hey there guys, i have an 86 yota pickup i just rebuilt the engine in a few months back. went to drive it to work the other day and got a little generous with the gas pedal taking off from a start. the carb cut out for a split second and then over fueled the truck like all hell causing quite a bit of strain on the back axle. now when i slow down it has a metal chatter sound that seems to be coming from the driver side rear tire. thought it was the u joint at first because there was play in the driveshaft so i fixed that. now im noticing that the play is coming from the yoke.....the pinion nut seems to be tight because whoever worked on it before me dented the pinion with a punch so the nut couldnt back off. at this point because the yoke is loose im kind of leaning towards a bad pinion bearing or, because of where the sound seems to be coming from maybe a bent axle shaft. id like to get a couple more opinions before i start parts cannoning it until its fixed.

 

Impossible to know what is really going on without some disassembly.

You say that the yoke is loose. First thing I'd do is back the nut off enough to open up the punch mark and retorque the nut to about 140 or 150 fp, then restake the nut.

That will either fix it, or it won't.

 

A certain amount of rotational play is normal but up/down/left/right slop is not. Is the diff low on oil?

 

the diff is full because i filled it after it started making the noise. i was going to tear in to the whole thing to figure out what was causing it. i didnt make it far i pulled the tires and drums while a buddy took the driveshaft out and drained my water/gear oil mix from the diff only to find out that i didnt have the 33mm socket that i needed to do anything with the pinion nut. Of course just like every other project i start this was a friday night at about 9:00 so anywhere i could have got the socket was closed. everything just got put back together and i filled the diff back up with brand new gear oil.

 

Sounds like you're looking in the right place....take the diff out and see if the pinion teeth are all chipped.

 

Any progress on this??

 

ive just been driving the wifes car until i can get some spare time to tear in to it. ill be sure to let you know what i find....at this point im kind of looking in to getting a new ring and pinion and throwing an aussie locker in there while its apart.

 

Thanx for the update!